


Fragments of Tribute

by Witchtomez



Series: Mysme Halloweek 2018 [10]
Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Mysmehalloweek 2018, Wistful, prompt: Decorations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-08-28 13:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchtomez/pseuds/Witchtomez
Summary: Jihyun had his own particular aesthetic when it came to designing his surroundings for the holidays.





	Fragments of Tribute

Jihyun had his own particular aesthetic when it came to designing his surroundings for the holidays.

While it was normal and fun to load up on the pumpkins, skeletons and other occult paraphernalia that signified the coming festivities, the photographer usually began his decoration process a bit before the autumn solstice these days; a practice he chose to bring back with him after a photo excursion to Japan shortly after graduating college.

It started with a large print he’d made of a particularly stunning golden sunset, sinking behind a cluster of chrysanthemums. The effect was meant to portray an offering of the blooms set next to a welcoming lantern, which he would set up near the entryway of his home. Directly across from that print was another; candle-lit lanterns floating upon a river, seemingly drifting away toward the gentle moon.

The next year, Jihyun had found himself in the rural areas of the Philippines as October gave way to November; the streets near the cemeteries were permeated with warmth and the sweet scent of flowers from the offerings laid at each gravestone within the gates. Groups of children wandered the streets, some in pale sheets and others in regular clothing, stopping at every doorway to coax offerings from the inhabitants.

The portrait Jihyun brought home that year was of a young child, draped in sheets cut specifically to her size; he captured her exuberant performance on film as she swayed and waved her delicate hands to the gentle notes of traditional folk song before an adoring audience. The composition of the shot kept the alms at the edges of the frame, indicating that the child’s vibrant representation had earned plenty of offerings to soothe the lost souls stuck in purgatory.

The year after that, the image he came home with was of a passionately bright altar loaded with drink, ceremonial food, flowers, nuts and water stacked in tiers with vividly painted skulls nestled within the offerings. Jihyun was particularly struck by the tone of excitement and celebration that seemed to be at the core of the Latin American festivals dedicated to the dead; it was so very unlike the solemn affairs of most of the East Asian nations, and despite the unfamiliarity, it was also a beautiful take on the concept of mortality.

There were years after that where V was unable to do anything but put up the old portraits as he had felt that he was running out of time.

But every year, at some point, there was an attempt that Jihyun made with his own two hands and a set of acrylics—a crude attempt at constructing an offering that he never felt satisfied with enough to present at the modest altar he had set up in his home.

Still, the portraits were hung on the walls, as though they were silent guides urging him to try.

Someday, Jihyun Kim wanted to put to canvas the right shades of teal and aqua, of sunlight and maple—the shades of the warmth he had been too young to appreciate when it held him close and cherished him so dearly.

Perhaps then he would be able to present it properly, light the welcoming lanterns on his balcony patio, and prepare all the food offerings long overdue to his mother.

He hoped by then he would know the words to beg her forgiveness.


End file.
